Statements

Mission

We aspire to be one of the premier youth-serving organizations in the city by bonding with youth and their families, creating safe spaces for youth to grow, promoting character development, and improving educational outcomes. We do this by interactive activities with volunteers and youth in some of the city's highest crime and lowest income neighborhoods. ASA is a safe haven, offering a variety of programs and other events to attract, engage, and develop an active membership base for hundreds of youth in Nashville. We do this through after-school initiatives and summer programming for students in all grade levels.

Background

For the last 4 years, After School Academy has served as an afterschool program for grades K-8 in Nashville- Davidson County. We currently serve two charter schools (Nashville Classical Charter School and Strive Collegiate Academy). During the summer months we host an 8 week summer camp for all youth ages 10-14 (high school students serve as volunteers and receive community service hours for college). Our program is funded and supported by NAZA, a partnership with the Nashville mayor's office and the Metro Nashville Public Library. NAZA has a large impact on our program, assisting us with professional development, funding, and supplying our staff with routine training throughout the year. We currently have 8 staff members employed with our program. Our afterschool program consists of meal time, homework assistance, enrichment activities, arts and crafts, and performing arts. We strive to build a program around our youth's interests. We partner with enrichment organizations such as: Girls Write Nashville, Nashville Children's Theatre, National Museum of African American Music and others to provide a performing arts aspect to our program. When youth are excited about our program it is far easier for our staff to build a trusting relationship with them.

Over 90% of our students are minorities and a vast majority live in single parent homes. We wanted our staff and board to reflect the diversity of our program so that we are relatable to the families we serve. It is our job as a staff to ensure that these student feel understood, safe, and have the ability to be vulnerable when they are with us. For many of our students our program has become the highlight of their day. They get to see their friends, their favorite staff members, and get to be themselves for 2-hours each day.

Impact

Over a 4 year span After School Academy has served over 1000 students in various capacities. In 2021 we had notable accomplishments within our program: Our program received full funding from NAZA and enabled us to run a more efficient and impactful afterschool program, we established a relationship with Strive Collegiate Academy (we currently serve 60 students during the school year and 50 during the summer) and continue to serve as their only afterschool program (we also host a summer camp for their students at their school facility each summer), 78% of students had higher grade point averages in the 4th quarter than they had in the first quarter due to our homework session when we assist students with their school work afterschool.

This year we established a new relationship with another charter school, Nashville Classical Charter School. At NCCS we are able to serve grades K-8th (we currently serve 50 students at NCCS). This year was the first year we served multiple summer camp sites. We served 75 students in total in a 6-hr summer program that operated Monday through Friday. This year we've added a performing arts aspect to our program and have stirred up excitement among are youth. Among the performing arts that we are offering to students are dance, music writing and production, film, and theatre.

Needs

Two of the most pressing needs for us are transportation and funding for performance arts. Performing arts has statistically shown to benefit students heavily when it comes to attendance and engagement in afterschool programming. We would love to place more of an investment toward performing arts. Funding would help us with equipment and staff pay. We also need assistance with transportation. During the summer months many students cannot come to our program as much as they would like due to lack of transportation. We would like to add transportation to our program to ensure that every student has the opportunity to be present at our program.

We would also like to see more investments toward STEM resources for students, professional development for staff, and create more benefits for part time staff. We are seeking $50,000 in funding to provide the needs listed.

CEO Statement

My journey began as a police officer for Metro Nashville Davidson County. I worked downtown Nashville and had a lot of dealings with juveniles who were in trouble during afterschool hours. Most of the time I spoke with a young teen who had just committed a crime I realized that the young child reminded me of myself when I was the same age. The difference was I was afforded a much better afterschool environment at home, at practice, or running errands with my parents. Every time I would have these run-ins with young minority teens I only could think of them receiving a safe place to go afterschool where they didn't have to fit in with the group or be exposed to danger. I wondered how well they would thrive in a place where they could find a passion in sports or performing arts. I always wondered what the impact could be if they had that opportunity. In 2019 I decided to leave my position as an officer and start the same afterschool program I had always imagined. My greatest joy so far has been building relationships with students who trust me simply because I understand them. I tell all of my staff that our number one job is to ensure that at least one student trusts you, feels safe with you, and is vulnerable enough around you to be transparent. I'm excited for the future and can't wait to see how much more impact we can have in Nashville. - Caleb Rogan

Board Chair Statement

Our vision for starting an afterschool program had everything to do with making sure that we could create a place that enriches the lives of youth in Nashville. We planned to do this by creating positive relationships and atmospheres for youth to thrive in. We wanted to build character, confidence, and educational outcomes for youth. We understand that our impact on one child actually serves as an impact for the entire family and also builds stronger communities. - Nicole Taylor

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Community Improvement, Capacity Building  - Community & Neighborhood Development
Secondary Category:	Religion- Related  - Religion-Related NEC
Tertiary Category:	-

Areas Served

TN - Davidson